'UnGoogleables' Hide From Search

Ann Harrison
10.03.05

Geri Agalia doesn't appear to leave less of a data trail than most Americans. She has a phone in her name, a bank account, utility bills, a mortgage and a credit card. But the stay-at-home mom and part-time student is among a select and ever-shrinking group of the digitally privileged -- her name does not appear on Google.

"I just value my privacy," says Agalia, who lives in San Diego. "And I think that the government and corporations already know too much about people for the benefit of marketing."

As the internet makes greater inroads into everyday life, more people are finding they're leaving an accidental trail of digital bread crumbs on the web -- where Google's merciless crawlers vacuum them up and regurgitate them for anyone who cares to type in a name. Our growing Googleability has already changed the face of dating and hiring, and has become a real concern to spousal-abuse victims and others with life-and-death privacy needs.

Even those in the know can find their Google search results jarring: When, last July, a CNET News.com journalist reported information on Google CEO Eric Schmidt's personal and financial life gleaned from search results, Google issued a retaliatory ban on employees talking to the publication, which was only lifted last week.

But despite Google's inarguable power to dredge up information, some people have succeeded -- either by luck, conscious effort or both -- in avoiding the search engine's all-seeing eye.

These unGoogleables don't post online, blog, publish or build web pages using their own names. They're careful about revealing information to businesses, belong to few organizations that can leak personal data, and never submit online résumés -- all common ways that Google captures your data. They spoke to Wired News only on condition that their names be changed for this story.

Agalia says she visits online poker sites, but always enters false data not tied to her true identity. She limits online purchases and favors websites vetted by Truste and other privacy-monitoring groups. Presented with a sweepstakes offer at Legoland, Agalia said she backed out when she was required to submit personal information.

"I try to protect myself from identity theft," says Agalia, who says a would-be thief tried to use her credit card number a few months ago but got the expiration date wrong. "I shred bills, I don't give out information and I don't talk to telemarketers."

Philadelphia real estate investor Victor Lindt says he's surprised his name doesn't show up on Google, especially since he once owned a well-known pastry shop that was covered by the local and national press.

"I think I just got lucky and fell through the cracks," says Lindt. "I have a phone and utility bills in my name, five credit cards and I get junk mail all the time.... The one thing I would say is that I do not belong to any organization, no alumni associations, no clubs, nothing like that. And I don't attend any meetings."

Lindt's aversion to group activities may be the key to his absence from Google. Privacy activists note that many schools, civic groups and clubs publish attendance lists or minutes that end up on the web. Unthinking employers post their workers' names in online newsletters with no prior warning.

"Even if you are very careful, if someone else has that information and they post it, there is not much you can do but contact them and ask them to delete it," says Deborah Pierce, executive director of Privacy Activism.

Agalia discovered that even her own family could be a Google information leak. A distant relative posted Agalia's name on a genealogy website, along with the names of her husband and son. When Agalia's husband was deployed in the first Navy battle group to send Tomahawk missiles into Iraq, she said he was told by his commanders to keep a low profile in case he or his family were targeted by terrorists. Agalia's relative agreed to take their names off the site and she accomplished the rare feat of having her name vanish from Google listings.